Summertime Blues
by TheGoofyCat
Summary: She had his affections or in an other word...(a word that would make him and all his cronies shiver)...his heart! Even the mere thought of Ace Merrill having feelings simply leaves me with a churn in my stomach it couldn't be true, right? Love was certainly not in Ace's character. But we all have desires and it's a crying shame that Eyeball Chambers is mine...Eyeball/OC Ace/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: **So hey new story! Woo! Anyway I'm kind of ina rut here and I thought a new story would kind of get me out, I'm still going to mainly focus on Official series though trying to get my brain into gear with that. lol.

Anyway hope you enjoy.

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_**There Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues  
TheGoofyCat**_

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**1**

September 3rd, 1959. The night it all started, from the moment the clock struck at ten o'clock that night I knew I would never be the same. But when the clock struck ten that morning it had started out like any other day. I woke up late to the fresh smell of bread in the oven wafting through the house, with labor day coming up my mom was busy baking for the parade that was to be held on Main Street, her being a lunch lady at school she had taken the dreaded task of feeding the whole town and why wasn't I helping her? Well I had stayed up till the early hours of the morning baking pies till my fingers hurt, I hadn't ate since supper and I should have been hungry but the smell of a thousand cherries baking in the oven was enough to put me off breakfast just a little while longer.

After I had grudgingly got myself out of bed and opened up the small window in my room to let some fresh air roam the halls, not only could I still taste the sourness of the cherries I could still smell them too, I took in a deep breath and the smell was replaced by freshly mown grass it was then that I noticed my father in the front yard mowing the last few patches of the wild weeds that took up most of the lawn, somehow knowing that someone was watching he stopped and looked up towards my bedroom and gave me a smile before proceeding on with his work, that was my father for you, a man who slaved all morning working up a sweat until his muscles gave in who was still able to see the bright side in life.

Seemed like that was the way of life round this part of town, men worked till their fingers bled just to make bread, times had been tough all year in Castle Rock and we all had to help. I guess that was the reason for this parade, everyone would come together and appreciate all the hard work that had been dug, swept and polished just to get through the year.

As I walked into the tiny kitchen my mother's humming rang through my ears, the same tune she hummed to me as a baby to get me to sleep and I suddenly felt tired. She stopped kneading the dough as she heard me come in and I knew what was about to be said - She was to tell me that the pie dishes were to be scrubbed and rinsed, a dirty job but someone had to do it and that someone was me!

"Barbara, would you be a dear and take these pies to your Uncle Herb?" She turned to face me, but before I could protest about walking three long blocks through the town she had placed two heavy pies in my hands and pushed me very gently out of the back door, I wondered how she could be so gentle yet so firm, a trait that had been passed down from my grandmother. Was I to inherit it too? I certainly hadn't inherited her grace as I almost went flying through the air as I misplaced a step and tripped, luckily I managed to hold onto the pies for dear life but the one on top now had a suspiciously looking fingered dent through the crust.

I walked slowly through the neighborhood, the longer I was gone the less likely there were to be dishes to be washed when I would get back, though I would have taken dirty dishes over my Aunt Joan's constant need of human contact, that woman sure could hold a hug. Maybe if I had held onto the pie she wouldn't take me in? What was I thinking she would've had me and the pies both squished to death, and I wasn't willing to stain my favorite yellow sweater so when I did finally arrive at the house and let myself in through the back door I put them on the counter, no one was to be seen and I wondered if I could make a quick dash without anyone noticing, my mom would have killed me though for being so rude.

"Oh Barbara, there you are! I was beginning to worry, your mom called over an hour ago to tell me you were on your way! Honestly child what took you so long? I was beginning to think the worst, you do know about that boy don't you?" My aunt Jane rushed into the kitchen it was then that she pulled me in for a hug all the while muttering to herself "Oh I was thinking you had vanished just like poor Ray Brower-" After she had loosened her death grip, she pulled away slightly and placed her hands just below my shoulders and stared me up and down. "Oh my! Have you grown!" She looked at me like she hadn't seen me years, she had seen me two days ago. "Oh, Herb! Come look Barbara has her breasts!" She yelled down the hall. I looked down at my chest and suddenly felt very self concious, maybe my favorite sweater wasn't such a good idea! My cheeks turned maroon which now matched the ingredients of the pie that Aunt Joan was now slicing up. To my luck Uncle Herb didn't appear, either he had gone fishing, or he was just as embarrassed as me, I figured the latter.

Knowing that I was about to be stuck in an orbit of embarrassing questions and silence, I managed to excuse myself to the living room where my cousin was sat listening to KLAM on the transistor radio, he looked up at me and my cheeks turned another shade of red, had he heard my his mothers calls of my personal appearance? He gave me a small smirk which answered my thoughts and I quickly crossed my arms covering the topic of conversation.

I was sixteen, my breasts had arrived three years ago!

I sat myself down next to my cousin as he fiddled with the volume on the transistor and Bob Cormier's voice got our attention.

_Win yourself a Benjamin? That's right! One hundred dollars! All you Daddy-os grab yourself a lady, get up and go and get yourself down to Harlow, 'cause tonight comes Big Hoppers Dance Off so come on down and make the scene. Have a blast, it's a gas! It'ssssss Boss!_

I could see the dollar signs shine through my cousins eyes as we looked at each other.

"What do you say, BB?" He raised his eyebrows as a small grin erupted his face. "Fancy winning some bread?"

Who was I to turn down one hundred dollars.

"Alright, Charlie. But I ain't dancing with you!"


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

The plan was simple really we'd travel down to Harlow in Charlie's dad's - My Uncle Herb's - beat up and busted '46 Ford Coupe and if Uncle Herb was wondering why we were taking his car, Billy Tessio - Charlie's closest friend - had come up with the plan. _"We're just going to the drive-inn, Sir. The one down near Mutton."_ And that's what we told our folks, Billy told us during our car ride to Harlow, that his dad had given him the third degree; asked him why he didn't take us to the one in Castle Rock itself (Yorky's - Named after the owner who every kid in town called Porky Yorky), well Billy damn near fell out of his seat with laughter when he told us what he replied. _"No offence, Old Man, but all Yorky shows is ol' flicker shows about the civil war."_ Charlie busted a gut laughing so hard and I wondered to myself why it were so funny to boys about giving their old men cheek? If I had spoken to my father that way I'd have been sent up to bed with no supper but with only just a glass of cod liver oil to keep me warm at night! It wasn't till now that I realised Billy hadn't spoken to his old man like that but he had probably said something more on the lines of;

_"With all due respect, Sir, I think the girls would much rather see 'Some Like It Hot'"_

It was just the four of us - Myself, Charlie, Billy and his girl Connie Palermo. If we thought we had any chance of winning the dance off Connie was just the girl to do it, her mother and mine sat next to each other in church which meant me and Connie were always paired with each other in Sunday School. The Palermo's were the religious type and my mom would come up with the idea thinking that if I were friends with Connie then I would have a deep connection with the Lord himself, she was well under the conclusion that Connie was a saint. Did she have any idea that Connie spent most of her evenings sat in the back of Vince Desjardins Studebaker with Billy Tessio? And they weren't talking about the Lord that was for sure - No she did not! From the age of six Connie had been dancing her shoes off to the jitterbug and swing, she had the trophies to prove it.

Charlie and Billy had tried to get a few more of their gang to join us, but hearing the sentence 'A drive all the way to Harlow and to a dance.' didn't exactly catch their attention, but what would have caught their attention and made that drive a little bit more bearable would have been that sweet sound of a hundred dollars! But Billy was smart enough to not mention that straight away so he kept it quiet, Charlie came up with the idea of telling everybody we were going to see a show instead after all if their friends had heard about their little money making scheme they sure would have wanted a piece, a big piece and no doubt the biggest guys in the gang would have rinsed us high and dry and we would have been left with just a dollar and blistered feet.

Of course I knew who the biggest - and the toughest - ones were; Ace Merrill, Eyeball Chambers and Jackie Mudgett. Charlie and Billy hung tight with those guys in the hope that they themselves would be the biggest and toughest, that's not how it works though is it? Then there was Fuzzy Bracowicz and Vince Desjardins and a couple other hoodlums from the state and back. They called themselves 'The Cobras' isn't it funny how you make a name for yourself and a group of people and somehow everyone in town is wary of you? Now don't get me wrong they were the real deal, if only just the big guys, but now looking back it is just laughable how just the mere mention of the word 'Cobra' scared every kid in this town.

Ace, Eyeball and Jackie were always around but you never really knew what they had planned, would they boost a car? Get into a game of fisty-cuffs? The sort of games that Charlie and Billy and the others played the ones that involved taking a retainer from the school nerd and swiping whatever they could get their grubbiest hands on from the nearest convenience store. The big guys were always involved with something bigger something that could involve seven inches of silver blades in the blink of an eye and me and Connie stood as far away from them as possible in the fear of getting cut.

Now while we were driving through Harlow did we have the feeling we were going to win? Yes we did. But that smugness soon washed away when we realised this wasn't some small dance at the nearest hop these were the big ones, girls in sparkly dresses and three inch heels and men with suit and ties and shoes that you could eat your supper off of and still want desert. I looked down at my pitiful attempt at dancing shoes and I soon felt stupid.

Did we dance? Yes. Did I dance with Charlie? Unfortunately yes. And did we think we were good? Yes. And did we win? No we did not.

It was funny really, how four simple kids from Castle Rock figured they had a chance at winning a dance-off. It was almost like a kid who had never set eyes on a pack of cards figure they could win at a high-stake game of cards, it just wasn't going to happen and I swore directly to Bob Comier for making the damn dance sound easy. His jingle suddenly went through my head as we made our way out of the place '_Have a blast, it's a gas, it'sssss boss!' _and I remember thinking 'Yeah right!'

We all felt sorry for ourselves because we were all so sure that money was already in our hands the whole drive up there. None of us wanted to go home so Billy and Charlie had the idea of boosting one of the cars outside the dance-off. I remember asking Charlie what kind of car it was and he pointed out the spare tyre on the back and told me it was a '54 Dodge Royal as we all hurried inside me and Connie sat at the back while Billy hot-wired the engine and we sped off, still to this day I can remember the song that blared out of the radio The Coasters - Sorry (I ran all the way home), Though it still haunts me to this day.

After Billy had used his fake id to get him and Charlie some booze we stopped for a quick wander around the woods. Billy and Connie held hands as they walked along the tracks while me and Charlie had a conversation about my dad and his, about who's dad was the oldest, who looked like the oldest and who wasn't the oldest, they were twins you see and for some odd reason it seemed important to me and Charlie about having the more oldest and wisest dad. Connie joined us right when we were having a discussion about who had the most Irish father after all the family name had came from the country so it seemed fitting that we were in fact Irish, she told us and in her words that Billy had went to use the little men's room.

And right when I was about to make fun of her for being such a girl we heard a scream. I jumped a little but Charlie jumped right out of his keds, Connie grabbed hold of my arm and stared bug eyed down the tracks, we didn't move. All kinds of stuff ran through my head but nothing could have prepared me for the truth. Me and Connie watched as Charlie ran down the embankment to where Billy had last walked down. And then there was silence, a deathly silence until Connie spoke.

"Should we see if they're okay?"

I nodded my head a little as we walked slowly through the tracks, Connie yelped a little as she tripped over something, I glanced down and there in the middle of the tracks was one single shoe, a black all-star converse. And I remember thinking it was odd, how could someone possibly forget that they had lost a shoe? Hadn't they noticed one foot was bare? I picked it up and looked at it, it was definitely a kids shoe, would I take it to the station and report a missing shoe? Maybe it was the kids favorite pair and he wanted it back.

Connie gripped my arm tighter to get my attention and there to our right down the little hill leading to the river was Billy and Charlie staring at something on the ground. It was then that I saw a pair of feet sticking out from under the bushes. Me and Connie made our way down almost slipping.

Connie went to speak but all that came out of here was a small un-lady like grunt as we looked at the body laying there. This was some sort of joke, it must have been, Billy and Charlie had fooled us and had got one of their jd friends to play dead. I didn't find it funny but the look on Charlie and Billy's faces told me that they didn't find the punch line either.

"What do we do, man?" Charlie gulped as he asked Billy.

"Nothing." Billy gulped back white as a sheet, he didn't look like the Billy Tessio I knew, that Billy Tessio was tough and afraid of nothing and he sure wouldn't have let out a scream this time of night. "I fell right into the fucker," And just like that the tough hood was back. "Almost thought my hand went right through him." He spat disgustedly to the ground and the vision of him falling into the decomposing body and pulling out a hand covered in blood and guts came to my mind. It was then that I realised what I was looking at.

This was real. This was really real! I blinked hoping he would vanish. But he didn't.

"Look at his face, man." Charlie whimpered, "I think I'm going to puke." Tears fell from my eyes as I looked at the body of the dead kid. Underneath the bugs that crawled over him was a baby-face, he was young, around eleven or twelve, his eyes were open and I half expected him to blink but he didn't, he was dead.

Dead! A word that can easily spill out of your tongue but could bite the person that you said it to. It was abrupt, a word that held no sympathy just the meaning. Finito! I thought of the kids mother and how she would find out that her son was dead. "He's dead, miss." Is what she would hear. Would she fall to the floor crying? Because that's what I felt like doing. I didn't know the kid but I felt for him. His mom would be out there looking for him wishing for him to return home and tell her he ran all the way home just to say he was sorry he was late.

"He musta got hit by a train or somethin'," Charlie squealed. "Right out of his fucking keds, right out of his feet." Charlie had never swore in front of me till then, but I hadn't noticed, all I had heard was the word feet, I looked at his body and down to his feet his shoes were missing and that's when I realised I was holding onto one of them. I shrieked as I threw it away from me and it landed into the bush that he laid on. Billy jumped and Connie cried.

"What did you do that for? I thought he came back from the dead." Billy told me. But just like the dead kid couldn't I didn't reply. "Jesus H bald-headed Christ!" Any other day Connie would have slapped him for his profanity.

"I'm going to be sick." Connie declared and she ran up the hill. Charlie, who was not like Connie, he couldn't care less about who saw him barf up his entire supper, he ran to the river and threw up his meat and potatoes.

And that was the first time I came across the body of Ray Brower.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: **Hey! It's me again. I hope whoever's reading this had a good new year. Well here is chapter 3 hope you like it, things will not start to heat up until the next chapter but I hope you like it. Thank you to **sturmfrei **(ahh it's strange not writing JustAnotherGoofball, lol) for the review. Sorry I haven't update in a while guys, I was interrupted by the Gossip Girl box set I got for xmas and I binged on it when I had the time, I fell in love with the Chuck/Blair pairing! What can I say I'm a sucker for moody brooding bad boys who fall in love lol.

Enjoy!

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**3**

I was in shock, I couldn't speak, heck I couldn't even see. It was all just a blur but yet right now I can still see everything in my head. I can still see Charlie by the river clutching his stomach as he hurled up a storm, I can still see Billy pacing up and down trying to think of an excuse he can tell the cops and I can still see Connie sitting on the train tracks above us, her knees to her stomach as she held onto her feet. And then there was me standing there - at the same spot I had been standing in for what felt like ten hours but was really five minutes - in a daze.

All that rang through my ears was the sound of the shriek I had let out, replaying and replaying over my head until it lowered the tone into a moan and my mind imagined it was the yell of the boy who was laying flat out dead in front of me.

All I wanted from that night was to have a little fun and maybe win some money, but now it had turned into one big mess. I wished to wake up in my bed and find out it had all been just a dream, I wished so hard, right into my core for it not to be true but it was true! I wasn't in my bed, laying on my pillow with my blanket wrapped around me and my cat sitting on the edge of my bed. I was in the middle of the forest somewhere face to face with a corpse!

Corpse? The word sounds so horrid, so horrific that it matches it meaning so perfectly. When I think of it, I imagine a body, covered in bruises green and purple rotting away and the smell? The smell would stick in your nostrils for months. But he wasn't like that, apart from his wide-eyed expression you would have thought he was just a kid who had got involved in a tussle with a couple of hoods and now was sleeping it off. He hardly smelled at all.

His eyes are what haunts me the most. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and of course he didn't have a soul, well not any more, the train had made sure of that. That you can see into a person know who they are and what they are all about just by looking into their eyes. My eyes never left his, I was stuck in some kind of blinking contest one that I would never win, it was strange, horrifying yet slightly relaxing. A one and truly fucked up enjoyment. I knew it was bad, I knew I would be scarred for life but I couldn't blink or turn away.

"What time is it?" I heard Billy ask.

"Just past ten," Charlie croaked. "Shit, man. How long do you think he's been out here for?"

"Not long, he ain't even started rotting yet, trust me you don't wanna be here for that, just be glad the sun ain't got to him yet that's when the smell really turns bad" Billy trailed on. "I told you about the time me and my Da found my Grandad at the front porch, he'd been dead for no more then an hour but he smelt like a slaughterhouse 'cause the sun was shining right down on his-"

"Billy, you're gonna make me hurl again." Charlie snapped at him. "Now ain't the time for your stories."

"Shit! I don't think sometimes." Billy told Charlie sympathetically. Nothing like a dead body to bring out the good in some people, that was the closest thing to nice I had ever heard come from Billy Tessio's foul-mouth.

"What are we going to do?" Connie regained her strength and I sensed her walking down the hill to join us.

"I dunno," Charlie half-shrugged. "What do you think, Billy?"

"Nothin'!" He snapped and then added quietly. "For now!" He let out a sigh. "Come on, we'll go get your dads car back and then take the girls home."

"Alright! Maybe we should cover him with a blanket or somethin'," I could tell Charlie was squirming in his spot. "At least make a call?"

"You an idiot? Then it looks like we killed 'im," Billy harshly told Charlie. "Nobody ever has to know we were ever here!"

"But it's the good thing to do," Charlie mumbled, and I recognised that mumble from when he chewed on his fingernails.

"Yeah? Well so is _not _boosting a car at near ten at night!" Billy shot him down with a spat. "You any idea how much trouble we can get in? I dunno 'bout you but I ain't gonna lose a wink of sleep tonight worrying 'bout the cops pulling up at my house asking about-" Billy stopped midway through his heated talk with Charlie. "Is she okay? She's not gonna hurl is she?"

"I dunno,"

"Looks like she's in shock! Barbara?"

"Lets take her home before she hurls up. I seen enough barf tonight to last me a lifetime."

"Barb?"

"She don't look so good. What am I gonna tell her folks?"

"Just tell 'em she drank too much!"

"Yeah, like that's gonna not make 'em tell my Ma. I'm already in deep water, it's well past her curfew."

"Well it's a lot better then the truth! What are you gonna say? 'Sorry we're late, but we were too busy boosting cars and drinking to notice the time. Oh and here's a right kicker - finding bodies of little kids!'"

"Billy? Do you always have to talk so harsh?"

"Sorry, Con. I'm just tired is all."

"I want to go home."

"C'mon, I'll take you home." And just like that I was back. "Charlie, you try and knock her out of her daydream I ain't in no mood to carry her to the car." Daydream? It wasn't the day and this was no where near a dream. If I had the strength I would have slapped Billy Tessio right round his empty head.

"I can walk myself." I spat out and my head shot towards the three of them. "Take me home, Charlie. I just wanna forget this night ever happened." I gave Billy a glare as I walked past him and joined Connie.

The car ride home was just as awkward as our dancing, nobody wanted to speak- not even Billy - in fear of saying the wrong thing or in fear of saying the right thing- the truth at what we had just seen, a dead body!

Me and Connie were the only ones it seemed to click with, I stared into nothing and Connie sobbed quietly and I felt like joining her. Billy and Charlie just pretended nothing was wrong and that everything was the same, they were in denial and I was sure that it would come back- he would come back - and haunt them.

The world around us was in silence until Billy had the idea of turning the radio on.

_Police have now put out an appeal to please come forward regarding any information about the case. Twelve year old Ray Brower still hasn't come home. Police are getting ready to expand their search if you have any-_

Billy quickly turned it back off.

The kid now had a name. And if Billy and Charlie were not going to come forward it was up to me. I had to go to the station. I had to tell the police about the body of Ray Brower.

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Is Barbara going to do the right thing and go to the cops? Next episode we are introduced to a couple of new friends. Anyone who read the little spin-off 'Midnight at Irbys' will recognise one character and I'm excited to add her in, she's about to complicate things...

Oh and the question is when will the other cobras enter? Well you're going to wait and find out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: **Hey, everyone. Sorry it's been a while, i've had a lot on my mind and a little writers block, i am going to try and get up more updates for this and my other fics, will definitely try and update Officially Tied this week. Big thank you to **bac0npizza** and **sturmfrei** for there reviews.

Enjoy! If there's any spelling mistakes/grammar I apologise as i've had to write this all on a tablet and it keeps messing it up, gah.

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**4**

It was eleven that night when Charlie dropped me off at the corner of Button Street - about a quarter way through our journey home Billy had stopped the car complaining of a cramp in his leg, so Charlie - who did almost anything that Billy commanded - offered to drive. Billy wanted 'sympathy' off his girl so I had been moved up to the front seat, under the usual circumstance I would have been delighted but everything was different now and Billy's constant pleading and Connie's constant giggling trying to get him to stop kissing her neck really started to get to me, the car ride was anything but pleasant and all I wanted was to go home, before this dreadful evening began I had been given permission by my folks to have a sleepover at Connie's house but the thought of spending the night laying on the floor with just my thoughts and Connie gushing over her new romance didn't appeal to me, besides a sleepover at the Polermos would not help anyone, anyway, Billy Tessio had no desire of letting Connie out of his clutches, so I told Charlie to drop me off the corner and I would walk the rest of the way home in silence and cool air.

"See you at supper tomorrow, BB." Charlie told me as I was shifting myself out of the car. Supper! It had slipped my mind that we always had supper at Charlie's house every Friday, my stomach dropped at the thought of food and I definitely wouldn't be able to handle my Aunt's cooking not with Ray Brower on my mind and not with Charlie sitting across from me knowing what we both know.

A nod was all I could muster.

Billy took a moment away from trying to unbutton Connie's sweater and told me, "Remember don't be squawking this to anyone, I ain't got time for hassle from the cops," and then he grumbled, "or my folks!"

"Drop it, Billy! She ain't gonna tell nobody."

I left them then and there not wanting to think about this ever again, tomorrow I would walk to the station tell them what I know, tell them what we did, I would get punished but I would take it, and then that would be it, then I could go on like this whole thing never had happened, it was a plan and a half.

I creeped round to the back porch and picked up the spare key from behind my mother's pot for growing her favorite flowers in the spring and slowly crept through the door I lifted each leg slowly one at a time pretending I was a lion after its prey in the safari or a soldier about to snipe out the enemy, it seemed ridiculous but if I were to get caught by my Mom or Dad they would demand to know why I was here and not at the Polermos' and no doubt I would 'squawk' everything.

I knew they would know by tomorrow and I would be punished evenly but I still wanted one last night of calm and freedom before the whole town knew what we were up to, news spread fast around here and gossip was the towns most sought after treasure.

I peaked my head round the edge of the kitchen that led into the living room and noticed the flicker of the television box and the sound of the radio, my dad watching a sitcom and my mom listing to the news. I wondered if she was listing to Ray Browers' parents begging him to come home.

His eyes stared at me. His mouth was open. He watches. He always watches!

A shiver crawled up my spine as I crawled up the stairs.

He was here watching me.

* * *

Surprisingly I had managed to get off to sleep and again I had over slept, it was well past nine, this time my mom had woken me.

"This is the second time this week you have slept in, Barbara, are you feeling ill?" I felt my mother's cold hand on my thorehead and my eyes squinted as they opened.

"I'm fine, mom. I'm just tired."

"Well school starts again soon and you'll have to get used to getting up bright and early," She nagged. "Honestly, Barbara, I thought you would never wake up!"

Just like Ray Brower!

By the time I had bathed, dressed, eaten, and all the other things Ray Brower would never do again, it was past eleven when I got out of the house.

Every step, every breath was a constant reminder, everything seemed different.

Dirty. Messy. Tainted. Bruised. Rotten.

The police station was an odd building, it looked as if it were built to be a chapel, or a school. It was bright white and I remembered my father having a conversation with my uncle about the time they had gotten some prisons from Shawshank to come and re-paint it, I also remembered Charlie telling me the reason they had to paint it - Two guys had gotten into a fight one had brought out a gun and shot the other point blank and they needed some brainless men to pick up the pieces of skull off the building - Yeah. I didn't believe it either.

Three cars were parked outside, the sheriff's patrol car, a pink Studebaker, and a beat up red Ford. Spending time with Charlie over the summer really helped me know pointless information about mindless things.

I flattened down the dress I had carefully chosen, afterall if they were to listen to a word I said I had to look presentable and the dress I wore to church every Sunday would certainly help. Taking deep breathes as I took each step of the way with ease, I had to stay calm.

The door opened with ease and my eyes fixed on the officer at the reception, I walked towards him as my eyes never left the floor and as I reached the desk his eyes never left his newspaper he was engrossed in as he puffed a cigarette.

"I need to see an officer." I stuttered and then took a gulp.

His eyes still reading the paper, he pointed to his right with the hand that was free. "In there and wait." He exhaled the smoke.

I gave him a smallsmile, not that he had seen and walked to the door on my left that had the words 'WAITING ROOM' engraved on it and a piece of paper that read 'be quiet, no funny business, and no smoking.' I turned the handle and stepped inside.

Three people sat inside - Mr. Gumble (who was known around town to mess with everyone's time) I was pretty sure he was here to waste the officer at the receptions time. Eyeball Chambers and his girl - Alison Woody. My breathing took a turn up as I took a seat next to Alison, she looked at me as she chewed her gum, she was always chewing gum.

"Hi, Barbs." She gave a big smile as she chewed. "What you in for?" She raised her eyebrows quickly and playfully. I knew the reason she was here and he was sitting next to her.

"It's er..nothing...a project I'm gonna work on when school starts." I lied, she looked at me as if I had shot her in the foot and I almost believed she knew I was down right lying.

"School! Ain't I glad to be out of that place," She sighed. "Work ain't that swell either." She popped her gum and I remembered she now worked with her father at the billiards bar he owned. It was no secret that she had practically told her parents she was dropping out of school and there was nothing they could do about it.

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably as I tried to make conversation, Alison was a year older than me, in fact we shared the same birthday but that was all we shared in common. She had this town figured out and her life for that matter where as I knew nothing about this town or as from yesterday nothing about my life either. "So what are you here for?" I bit my tongue from saying the obvious 'what has Eyeball done again?' I Iooked at Eyeball, he had slouched himself down and covered his face with a tatty looking baseball cap, I wasn't sure if he was awake or sleeping.

"They want to talk to me about a fight I witnessed at Irby's on Monday night," She scratched the back of her neck. "Seeing as I'm the only witness they can trust." She took a compact mirror out of her purse and fixed a hair that had fallen out of place, it was then that I think she noticed her lazy-assed boyfriend sloutched down, she elbowed him and he let out a grunt and took the cap from his face and looked at her. "Will you sit up, Ricky." She commanded and then gave him an annoyed sigh as she asked him, "And where did you get that hideous cap?"

"Someone gave it to me," He laughed to himself mainly. "Will ya hurry up, Ali. Me an' the guys are having a game of baseball, what's taking so long? That fat-ass at the front ain't even working."

"Maybe it's 'cause he knows you're here and doesn't wanna look at your ugly face." She bickered at him. "And who you playing baseball with anyway?"

"You better watch your mouth, Woman. Anyway you didn't think I was ugly last night," He smirked, she elbowed him again and I looked away awkwardly, I wasn't here to witness Eyeball and Ali having a contest about who can complain and bicker louder.

"You better be careful about what you say, Ricky. There's people here,"

And that's when I think he noticed they were not alone.

"Don't call me Ricky when people are around, this town likes to talk," He glared at her and then he noticed me. "Who's she?" His brown eyes intimidating me as he looked me up and down.

"That's Charlie's cousin you idiot, you also live across the street from her," She rolled her eyes at him and I didnt know what surprised me more -that Eyeball had no clue where he lived or that Ali knew where I did.

"That's swell," Eyeball replied sarcastically as he lit up a cigarette and inhaled. Either he couldn't read or he just didn't care ablut the no smoking rule, both were plausible answers. "Well I'm gonna skip this joint. Told Ace to pick me up at Tessios"

I tensed if he was really going to meet Billy, what would happen if he told him he saw me here? Billy would know I went sqwaking to the cops first and I couldn't pin it on Connie like I had planned.

"Wait a minute," Alison grabbed his hand and I prayed she would stop him from leaving or else I was in deep shit. Alison turned to me, "Gimmie your pen." She commanded and I looked through my purse hoping to find one, if I didn't have one she would know something was up, I mean afterall who goes to research and doesn't bring a pen, luckily I found one hidden beneath my notepad.

"Here," I handed it to her and she took it out of my fingers without even a thank you.

She took hold of Eyeballs left hand and drew the letter 'A' on to one knuckle 'L' on another and then 'I' on the last so that his knuckle read her name.

"There! Now everyone know's you're mine." She smiled at him as he got up from his chair.

He frowned at her, his left eye twitched. "What is with you women." He looked down at his hand with disgust. "See ya later." I watched him leave and watched him discard the cap he wore at the officer at the reception causing him to spill hot coffee down his uniform.

"You better watch out, Chambers. Next time I see you you're mine," He hollered out to him, but it was unlikley that Eyeball was listening. "And you're in big trouble." And it was unlikely that Eyeball cared.

If Eyeball told Billy or Charlie he had seen me at the station, me and Eyeball would have something in common - we were both in big trouble, but unlike him - I cared!

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There you go hope you enjoyed it and maybe review. It was fun to tie in stuff with the movie and the little spin off I wrote featuring the new character Alison, it was has me wondering in the movie at the mailbox baseball scene where Eyeball is driving and I see 'Ali' written on his knuckles so i thought i would tie it in, haha.

Review, please?


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note: **Hello, fellow SBMers. How are you all? Apologies for the long wait for this chapter life has been hectic lately. Big thank you to **sturmfrei **and **HermioneandMarcus **for reviewing the latest chapter. Sorry if there's any spelling/grammar mistakes I wrote this on my phone and it's so awkward to type on. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter, our lovely Ace makes an appearance, yay, and urgh it took me too long looking for the name of the brand of beer Eyeball was drinking when they were in the car playing mailbox baseball lol, I have no life!

Reviews, constructive criticism welcome! I live for reviews. Anyone reading the Official series I hope to get it updated next week!

Enjoy!

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**5**

It was fifteen minutes later, and what felt like a decade of watching the clock tick slowly, that I decided that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. There has been countless times in my life that I have called myself a chicken and this was probably the worst of the bunch. Looking back now I regret it, Ray Brower deserved better, but instead I was a coward.

Wanting to get out of this place as quickly as possible, I shot up from my seat. Mr. Gumble was now sleeping, and sprawled out on three chairs, his legs dangling just above the floor, and he was snoring away.

Alison was now in the back talking to the town deputy, she had been away for ten minutes, no doubt she was plastering on red lipstick, and pouting to herself in her mirror, while the deputy tried to get all the details out of her.

Officer Jackson was still in the restroom, still probably trying to clean the coffee, that Eyeball so carelessly made him spill, off of his pants.

Now was the time to make a break for it, and it was highly likely that nobody would notice or even care that I had disappeared, after all what big news could Barbara Hogan possibly know? She certainly couldn't know about a certain dead body rotting in the woods.

A chill hit me as I walked out of the station and into the open air. And I wasn't sure if it was from the cool air or something far more sinister.

I had only walked down the steps and a few paces to my left when I noticed a car driving down the road, a '52 Ford. I didn't think much of it at first, that was until I noticed Eyeball Chambers seated in the front, and a flash of blonde hair in the back behind him, Charlie! I gulped as I noticed Billy sat next to him. They drove past and I let out a sigh of relief, they hadn't seen me, or so I thought and it wasn't long until I heard a car reversing behind me and then park up and break right beside me. It took me a few seconds to muster up some courage to look.

"What you doing, Barbs?" Billy leaned across Charlie to ask me, a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of Rainier beer in the other.

"Just going for a walk," I told him, as I uncomfortably stood there.

"All the way here? That's a pretty far walk from Button street." He sneered his tone vicious and nasty. I looked at Charlie, who fiddled with the baseball bat he held, and hoped he would change the subject.

"So the broad wanted to go for a walk? Big deal!" Eyeball spat from the passenger seat up front. My eyes darted to him for a split second, he too had a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. His eyes looked at me in a blink, again he had no idea who I was, I took a little look inside the car and there was a whole crate of Rainier's beer next to him, and the empty bottles lying next to his feet, I wondered why he hadn't swung them out of the car or maybe they were saving them to hurl at people. "You wanted us to pull over for that? We're in the middle of a game! Fuck, Ace, just drive on, man."

My eyes looked to the driver, and sure enough it was Ace Merrill, his eyes on the road not even giving me the time of day, as he chewed on some gum. I wondered if these guys ever did anything in their entire lives that didn't involve getting shit-ass drunk on beer and smoking up a whole ashtray.

"This a party? Where's my invite?" Alison Woody crept up behind me, causing me to jump a little.

Eyeball groaned at the sight of her, and placed his dirty hand over his face, I heard him utter under his breath, "Shit, man." As he hid the beer between his legs.

"That's a nice way to greet your girl, Ricky." Alison gave him a small glare, as I stood there awkwardly. "And don't think I can't see that cheap beer you're all drinking. Jesus, Ricky! Do you know the time?"

"Can't a guy hang out with his buds for a couple of hours without tail getting in the way?" He flicked his finished cigarette out of the convertible. "I just wanna drink a few beers with my buds that's all. Anyway don't be worrying. I'll see ya tonight, babe."

She rolled her eyes at him and gave him a false sweet smile. "Don't be thinking I'm gonna forget about this, your mom catches you drunk this time of day, it's your funeral."

A click of a finger interrupted them, and we all turned our attention to Ace who ran his right hand through the side of his hair. "Time to switch, boys."

"Ah, I was just about to knock it out of the park." Eyeball shot him a glare. "I'm on a streak."

Ace turned to him and leaned in close. "Who are you? The Great Bambino?" He smirked sarcastically.

"Nah, I'm 'The Great Eyebino.'" Eyeball chuckled as he chugged his beer. "The number one mailboxer in the county."

"Grow up, Ricky." Alison sternly told him.

Ace gave him another slightly amused smirk and then got out of his car, and then casually walked over towards us, he stopped in front of Alison and gave her a smile before spitting his gum out, his spit only a few centimeters from hitting her, she gave him a frown and crossed her arms, the two hadn't exchanged a single word to each other but I couldn't help feeling like they were in a deep conversation somehow. He whispered something in her ear before making sure he brushed up against her as he went to get into the passenger seat of his car, again ignoring me, it was as if I didn't exist to him, though I didn't care, Ace Merrill was one of those people you do not want looking at you.

I looked at Charlie, Billy, and Eyeball to see if they had witnessed the strange altercation between Ace and Eyeball's girl, but the three were too busy switching seats to notice, though I doubted if they were looking that they would have noticed anyway.

"I'd like to stay and talk, boys, but I got things to do, like rat my hair." Alison smiled at them, and then she grabbed my arm. "C'mon, Barbara, you can help me pin my curls, while telling me the real reason why you were at the police station."

My heart dropped to my chest, and I could feel my face turn a shade of white. I didn't dare turn to look at Charlie and Billy, and I hoped with all my being that they hadn't heard Alison's big mouth, but it was too late as Eyeball had started the car and I watched as they drove away, my eyes met Billy who was giving me the coldest stare I had ever received in my life. I was dead!

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